Native habitat soil for Cleistocactus strausii, and others

Discuss repotting, soil, lighting, fertilizing, watering, etc. in this category.
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greenknight
Posts: 4813
Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2013 4:18 am
Location: SW Washington State zone 8b

Re: Native habitat soil for Cleistocactus strausii

Post by greenknight »

Pumice holds quite a bit of water, though, I just use that and skip the other grit. Helps to water it twice, a few minutes apart, to get the pumice well soaked. That's what I do in hot weather, the dry east winds here really suck the moisture out of things.

I presume there's finer material underneath the crystals the Geohintonias are on - correct?
Spence :mrgreen:
Karsty
Posts: 47
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2016 6:14 pm

Re: Native habitat soil for Cleistocactus strausii, and othe

Post by Karsty »

IMG_20160812_195848 - Copy.jpg
IMG_20160812_195848 - Copy.jpg (54.68 KiB) Viewed 876 times
Hi Ian,

Thanks for your comment, points are noted. I know about the verticalness of where Geohintonias grow, and the gypsum certainly does not look like selenite. But frankly, the only decent gypsum I could get my hands on was selenite.

Hi Spence,

Yes, there's finer material, finer gypsum and a sprinkling of acid leafmould. I always water my cacti gradually, sometimes have to go round 4 or even 5 times!

I wanted to leave a few more pics here of my cacti in "native soils",

I will gradually get there.

Here's a different view of the Geo's...
Karsty
Posts: 47
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2016 6:14 pm

Re: Native habitat soil for Cleistocactus strausii, and othe

Post by Karsty »

I have also finally had an epiphany - I will get hold of some pure palster of paris, mix it with water, let it set, then bash it up, hey presto - gypsum!
SageOfSilence
Posts: 35
Joined: Mon Nov 28, 2016 9:52 pm
Location: Central Nebraska, US

Re: Native habitat soil for Cleistocactus strausii, and others

Post by SageOfSilence »

My Cleisto. Strausii Monstrose is in a 3 gallon pot with a mix of pumice(small 1/8-1/4" pieces), sand, and a little bit of coir. About 60/20/20. Seems to love it. Overwintering it now but it seems to really soak up the water and dry out the mix pretty fast. I water it from the bottom and it wicks it up really fast.
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